I like Gold and Silver for a number of reasons, The USD has to suffer from the "bailout's fallout" and the Chinese are making their play for a greater role in the world economy, they have now managed to bring together the BRIC countries to start trading in a USD free alliance.

BRIC countries especially China have continued to accumulate Gold and other resources.

I see nothing wrong with following there lead.

The real question is when to exit, as soon as I see signs of a shift in demand I will let you know here.

On Jun 29 09:17 AM fireball wrote:

> aft deck> i have a good long term gold and silver possession position. in the> last 2 years i have been upping my silver holdings.> i have been looking for a down push on gold to up that position.> perhaps ths is faulty strategy. would you be price averaging instead?

Great Article, this reduction of activity described as better earnings through cost cutting has an impact on the coming Quarters, how many more times can we hear "better results" from lay offs and reduced spending?

As various currencies come under pressure, most notably the USD then Commodities will become the safe haven.

No one could expect the dollar to survive the onslaught of debt the US Govt have delivered. Where is the long term plan to rebuild the economy to add the value back to the USD.

The Author correctly points out that many other leaders around the world are following the Obama policy of debt, so do not expect such a huge fall in the USD against all currencies, but against Gold, Oil and other traded commodities expect it to keep diving long term.

Smartphones: The Mobile Industry Is About to Get 'Blown Apart' [View article]

Getting Software on to devices and those devices to market, MSFT is the worlds best at that, yet many discount them on mobile.

Steve Ballmer confirmed that the Zune software was coming to Windows Mobile back in October 2008. In February, Microsoft took one of the first steps to make this possible by splitting the Zune team into separate software and hardware groups. It's still not officially announced by Microsoft, but Zune Mobile is definitely coming.

Certainly a wide range of views have been expressed, with references to L, U, and V shaped recessions. While I am at heart I am very much an optimist, my own view of the situation suggests that due to some unusual features of this recession the economy is likely to experience a slow recovery. I’ll mention these features briefly, and then explore them with you in a bit more detail.

* First, while the “financial freeze” has thawed quite a bit, it will take some time for complete normalization of financial markets and lending.

* Second, consumers’ “balance sheets” have been under significant strain, in part due to a loss in household wealth, and improvements will take some time.

* Third, a related point: the very sharp decline in housing prices is likely to inflict some forms of “collateral damage.” Labor market mobility is likely to be hampered, financing for homes is likely to be restrained, and the ability to use home equity to finance various projects will be limited.

* Fourth, the economic health of key trading partners remains somewhat fragile, so it would be unwise to expect much help in the form of foreign growth that would propel our export-led industries.[Footnote 2]

Considering these issues and taking into account the current level of fiscal and monetary policy stimulus, my best judgment is that a rather slow recovery is likely. Unfortunately, such a forecast does still imply continued weakness in the labor market, and an unemployment rate that continues to rise through this year.

With significant growth in payroll employment unlikely until next year it will obviously and unfortunately be some time before we see labor markets return to what we think of as “full employment.” And it is too soon to know when the trough of the recession will occur, although there are hopeful signs that we are nearing it.

A “fair price” for crude oil would range from US$70 to $75 a barrel, said Sheikh Khalifa, the President of the UAE, in remarks published yesterday.

A $75 target has been cited by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and others as a good compromise that can sustain the oil market for the long term.

“Currently prices are low, and we consider that low oil prices affect all,” Sheikh Khalifa said in an interview with the Qatari daily Al Watan. “A fair price per barrel, from our point of view, would range between $70 and $75.”